Browse Category: Mystery

RECAP: Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011): Guy Ritchie

The Guy Ritchie-directed Sherlock Holmes series took a page from Christopher Nolan’s Batman series. Widely regarded as the best of the trilogy, if not the best comic book movie ever, The Dark Knight was the second Batman movie and the time to feature the hero’s most iconic villain.

Likewise, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, the second in the series, debuts Holmes’s most iconic villain, Professor James Moriarty, the Napoleon of Crime.

Sherlock Holmes was a fine film, but its sequel, like The Dark Knight, is a masterpiece. I imagine the filmmakers used the first movies to get their feet wet, work out the kinks, etc., and in the second films, with the best villains, the race was easier to run, and the films superior in nearly every aspect.

ONE SENTENCE PLOT SUMMARY: Sherlock Holmes and his reluctant best friend John Watson race across Europe to prevent a math teacher from starting a global, industrial war.  Continue Reading

RECAP: Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes (2009): Guy Ritchie

Have you heard of a literary detective from Britain named Sherlock Holmes? He’s quite famous across The Pond.

ONE SENTENCE PLOT SUMMARY: Sherlock Holmes matches wits with a supposed wizard who returned from the dead to rule Britain and the world.  Continue Reading

RECAP: Jack Reacher

Jack Reacher (2012): Christopher McQuarrie

Lee Child’s novel One Shot served as the source material for Jack Reacher. Four years on, I can’t decide which title is better.

“One Shot” is practically meaningless, the least sexy title in recent memory. On the other hand, “Jack Reacher” is…quite a name. Better to be weird than boring.

Jack Reacher limped into theaters and strode out with more than $200 million global box office. That’s money that Tom Cruise gets you.

ONE SENTENCE PLOT SUMMARY: An off-the-grid ex-military cop investigates the alleged murder of five Pittsburgh citizens by a former Army sniper.  Continue Reading